IBM has officially announced Power11, the new generation of Power servers designed to meet the challenges of the artificial intelligence era and hybrid computing. With a complete redesign that includes everything from the processor to virtualization software, Power11 promises a leap forward in performance, reliability, and energy efficiency, marking a milestone in the evolution of critical business infrastructure.
The platform, available from July 25, 2025, stands out for its unprecedented resilience: 99.9999% availability, combined with zero scheduled downtime thanks to autonomous operations and hot maintenance. Additionally, it becomes the first generation to feature native support for the new IBM Spyre accelerator, designed for AI inference workloads.
A cornerstone for companies undergoing digital transformation
For decades, highly regulated sectors such as banking, healthcare, public administration, and retail have relied on IBM Power to handle critical workloads. But in an accelerated change environment—expecting over 1 billion new logical applications by 2028, according to IDC—organizations demand platforms capable of combining operational continuity, hybrid flexibility, and advanced AI capabilities.
With Power11, IBM addresses this need. The company has announced the simultaneous availability of high-end, mid-range, and entry-level models, for on-premises environments as well as IBM Cloud via Power Virtual Server, which is already certified as a hyperscaler platform for RISE with SAP.
One of Power11’s key features is its built-in native AI focus. The new processor includes dedicated accelerators for inference and is designed to scale with the future Spyre Accelerator, IBM’s system-on-chip that will also be compatible with IBM z17 and LinuxONE systems.
This will enable running intensive AI workloads such as real-time fraud analysis, pattern recognition in medical data, or automated modernization of legacy applications directly on critical business infrastructure.
Additionally, IBM has confirmed that watsonx.data, its hybrid open data lakehouse, will be available on Power11 before the end of 2025, along with watsonx Code Assistant for i, which already allows developers to modernize RPG applications up to 18 times faster.
“With Power11, clients can accelerate their transition into AI with innovations tailored to their most urgent priorities,” said Tom McPherson, IBM Power Systems General Manager. “It’s the perfect convergence of reliability, automation, hybrid cloud, and AI capabilities.”
Total continuity: maintenance without disruptions and cyber resilience
One of the most significant advances of Power11 is its ability to perform maintenance without system downtime. This is achieved through autonomous patching, automated load movement, and full support for Live Partition Mobility (LPM), eliminating planning times and reducing operational risk.
Complementing this is IBM Power Cyber Vault, an integrated cyber-resilience solution capable of detecting threats like ransomware in less than a minute, according to IBM. Based on the NIST framework, it captures immutable snapshots and executes automated checks to ensure data integrity.
Furthermore, the cryptography resistant to quantum computing embedded in Power11 enhances security against “harvest now, decrypt later” attacks.
Substantial improvements in performance and energy efficiency
In terms of power, Power11 offers up to 55% more performance per core compared to Power9 and up to 45% more capacity in entry-level and mid-range systems compared to Power10. This translates into greater scalability without oversizing.
Energy efficiency has also been a focus; Power11 achieves double the performance per watt compared to comparable x86 servers and, in its new Energy Efficient mode, provides up to 28% improvement in efficiency over maximum performance mode.
These figures position Power11 as an ideal platform for organizations aiming to reduce their energy footprint without sacrificing performance or reliability.
Testimonials from the field: productivity, healthcare, and banking
Companies like MR Williams, GuideWell, and Temenos have already tested Power11’s capabilities, highlighting the added value of automation and AI integration:
“What used to take a developer six hours, with Power11 and watsonx Code Assistant, I did in 20 minutes,” explains Jasmine Kaczmarek, Vice President of Technology at MR Williams. “It’s a radical change in productivity.”
“In healthcare, zero downtime means we can continue operating without interruptions while maintaining security,” noted William Allarey, IT director at GuideWell. “And with native AI on Power11, we’ll improve processes like claims management more quickly and accurately.”
“In banking, collaboration with IBM and Power11 will allow us to scale core banking modernization on an AI-ready platform without compromising resilience,” said William Moroney, Chief Revenue Officer at Temenos.
Power11: designed for today and the future
The new server family will be generally available on July 25, 2025, while the Spyre accelerator will arrive in the last quarter of the year. IBM has also confirmed that Power11 will interoperate with IBM Concert, its autonomous operations platform, leveraging generative AI to manage operational risks and automate tasks like security patch management.
Ultimately, Power11 represents a robust, automated, secure, and AI-ready infrastructure platform that reinforces IBM’s commitment to open innovation, data sovereignty, and enterprise resilience.
Source: IBM